in canon, i’d think ema is occupied by her work most of the time – being a detective also means working odd hours, and klavier gavin isn’t exactly the easiest boss. that said, she still finds time to do what she enjoys (even if she’s technically not supposed to use her own scientific equipment to investigate the crime scenes) and has the money to buy her own personal ambrosia (aka snackoos), so i’d say she’s not as bad off as her mood seems to constantly imply.
in this au, she’s … a waitress, which has more regular hours but is definitely more taxing on her than she’d like to admit – and while she can afford what she needs and perhaps one or two luxuries on top of that, she’s not exactly rich, either. the money she makes from her less-than-legal activities usually just goes into an overseas account that’s used only for dire emergencies.
both have their pros and cons, but i’d like to think ema would enjoy being a detective, odd hours and all – even if she’s not a forensic scientist – over the kind of life she’s living in vardos, with her fingers in shadowy pies.